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Making Up Gyms/Gym Leaders

So I've been contemplating writing a fic that takes place about ten years or so before RSE's events. Because of this, it wouldn't make sense for some Gym Leaders to actually be Gym Leaders, like Norman who moves from Johto right before RSE takes place while a handful of others (Roxanne, Flannery, Brawly) would just be too young to be Gym Leaders at this point. The nature of the fic I plan to write will include a few Gym battles, so I needed to replace a few Gym Leaders.

I have come up with a few replacements, like Flannery's Grandfather as the Gym Leader for Lavaridge and possibly Palace Maven Spenser, because his staff is reminiscent of Kyogre and he apparently touched the Blue Orb according to the Manga, but I can't really place him into a town. Other than that, I'm drawing blanks.

Would it be okay to make up replacement Gym Leaders or would it be better to make up new towns and new Gym Leaders? If they were 'replacements' then would they need to have the same typing (e.g. Rustboro's Gym Leader would be a Rock-type trainer)?

Making up replacement gym leaders would be fine. It's been shown in both the games and the anime that gym leaders change around. Flannery took over the gym from her grandfather; Janine took over the gym from Koga. If I'm correct, Whitney took over the Goldenrod gym from Norman. Heck, in the anime Misty and her sisters share the gym, and so do Cilan and his brothers. As for replacement types I think they can be whatever types you choose. The Olivine gym changed from rock to steel type following the discovery of steel types. The gym in Saffron used to be fighting typed (it was the dojo if I'm correct) but now it's psychic. In my mind for a gym leader to change either A) the leader would have to pass down the gym to someone else (eg Koga to Janine)or B) a qualified challenger defeats the gym leader and takes over the gym (Saffron City). Basically, do whatever you want with the leaders and the types. The leaders change over, the types change over. Plus, it's your story; you aren't necessarily bound by the existing canon (but if you're really finicky like me then maybe you are).

It wouldn't matter, really. But if it's ten years in the past, replacements (or predecessors in this case) are the way to go, unless you want to make alludes to other towns/small cities having gyms. (The anime may or may not have confirmed this, though it depends if you're going by game or anime universe.)

There are at least a couple of gyms where it gives you hints as to who were the gym leaders prior to the current ones. I know Roxanne was a rather recent gym leader, and possibly even Brawly for a few years. Flannery's grandfather was in the Hoenn League, though he could have been the previous gym leader (in which case, you're going by the anime-verse). You'll have to do a little bit of research on the current gym leaders and make conclusions for yourself what their experiences are.

If you are making new gyms for other towns/cities, it's up to you to decide on the types used, but you'll have to come up with puzzles like what the other gyms did (I've noticed all gyms have puzzles that were unique to the gym itself, but also alluded to the personality of the gym leader). You'll need to put on your creativity hat during those times.